Surgical needle



Mar. 20, 1923.

W. J. SNYDEH.

SURGICALNEEDLE.

FILED JULY 2,1018.

JMW@ fi @y Bti Patented Mar. 26D), "w23,

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SURGICAL NEEDLE.

Application tiled July 2,

To Zww/m, t may concern:

. Be it known that l, WTLLIAM JAY Surnur, a citizen of the United States, residing at Weehawken, in the county of Hudson, State of New Jersey, have made a. certain new and useful invention in' V'Surgical Needles, oit which the following is a specitication.

This invention lrelates to surgical needles, and particularly to needles, employed fory suturing cuts or wounds.`

rThe object of the invention is to provide a suturing lneedle which is simplev in construction andv efficient in operation torretaining the suture when onceapplied to the needle without danger of the suture becoming unthreaded therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to provide la surgeons suturing 'needle with a structure of eye to which a suture may be quickly applied and by which the vsuture is eiiiciently grasped and retained.

Other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter. y

rEhe invention consists substantially 4in the construction, combination, location, and relation of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth as shown in the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

ln `the accompanying drawing- Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a sur 'eons-suturing needle constructed in accor ance with the principles of my invention. f

Fig. 2 is an edge view of thev same. I Fig. 3 is a top'plan view.

Fig. t is a broken detail view, enlarged` showing the formationof the eye/in the end.-y

o the needle for receiving a suture.,

Fig. 5 is a view` in section on the-line 5, 5, Fig. 4, looking in the direction off the arrows.

. Suturin needles employed by surgeons as ordinarily constructed in the form most commonly used are curvedl in the length thereof with a sharp pointed'end and having an eye in the shank end thereof. rlihrough the eye formed in the shank end of the needle the suture isthreaded. litractical'diticulty has beentreqiiently encounteredwby reason of the fact-.t at sutures `frequently vary in size trornthe kangaroo gut suture to isis. sensi no. arenas.

the silk worm gut suture which is the smallest in quickly threadin thesuture throu h the eye of the needle. he sutures are or inarily carried in coils immersed inchloroform contained in suitable receptacles, and when the suture coil is required it is re-. moved from its container in coiled form and this renders it diihcult lto determine with certainty whether or not the suture is properly threaded through the eye of the needle because of the4 confusion of coils. Likewise-when in coiled condition the tact that they suture after being threaded throu h the eye of the needle has been ccidentay or inadvertently unthreaded. from the eye of the needle is notfdiscovered with the result that the needle may be inserted through the tissues in suturing a cut or wound and pulled through without 4the suture being pulled through with it thereby necessitating a repetition of the operation with a threaded needle. This increases or pro- 'iongs the pain oi' the patient undergoing the suturi-ng operation besides consuming time which is liable in -rnany instances to be 'f a' very serious matter as rapidity ot action is often a most important feature of operations. Moreover, the ends of theA suture become ravelled `which makes it difficult to effect a rapid threading of the same through lthe needle eye. Again where dii'er'ent sizes of sutures are employed the eye of the same needle may not be suiiciently large to accommodate all sizes oflsutures thereby necessitating .needles of varying sizes of eyes and this frequently also necessitates delays in selecting the needle having the proper size ot eye to -receiye :a particular size of suture, and ifa small sized suture is threaded into a needle havinv .a vlarge size 'eye the danger is increased o the Asuture inadvertent y pulling out ofthe needle eye either before use or in the course or the operation, thereby causing delay. Again, the necessity for rethreading a needle in thev midst of an operation is rendered difiicult particularly where the gloves ordinarily worn kby the surgeon or attending nurses 'have become)- smeared with blood or dam This causes a tendency ot the suture to stick tothe surface of the glove rendering-.it diiiicult and slow to effect a'` proper thrcadin l of the suture through the needle eye. li/oreover, it has occurred that the needle after being inserted in the tissues preparatory to a suturing operation beciomes detached from the suture by reason of the latter inadvertently or otherwise pulling out of the needleeye, and thereby either causing the needle to become lost 0r misplaced, or sometimes left in the wound. This has been known to occur with sometimes serious if not fatal results. Where the surface of the needle eye is polished the danger of the suture pulling out of the eye of the needle is increased, particularly in the ycase of a suture of a particularly hard or slick surface, such for example, as horse hair, or'silk worm gut suture. This tendency, of course, is'less in the case of Pachenstecker (linen), chromic catgut and plain cat gut suture. In order to overcome some of these diiiiculties experienced in the use of suture needles in surgical work it is sometimesthe practice of the surgeon or the attending nurse or assistant to twist the suture one or more turns around the shank of the needle after t-he suture is threaded through the needle. This precaution is not always effective.

It is among the special purposes of my present invention to provide a structure of suturing needle and an eye therefor which eliminates the diiiculties referred to, and to provide a needle and a structure of eye therefor which is suited for use in connection with any size of suture, to which the suture maybe quickly applied without any special effort or strain of eyesight which remains eiiiciently attached in threaded relation to the needle and which is held or gripped more strongly the harder the effort is made to. pull the suture out.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown a structure of needle and eye embodying my invention wherein the needle is indicated at 6, and is of the usual curved form having the pointed end 7 and shank portion 8. This shank portion is formed with a lateral opening or slot 9 through one side thereof. The mouth or opening of this slot is preferably its largest portion, and in practice should be of a size capable of permitting even the largest sizes of sutures to be passed laterally therethrough. The walls 10, 11, at the mouth- 9 of the slot, are prefy erably formed on the adjacent portions of the needle shank and of curved formation as clearly shown7 and preferably the wall 11 which is formed in the body part of the needle shank terminates in a lip or slight protuberance 12 at the edge of the needle.

- The wall surface 10 formed in the end por-- `tion of the shank of the needle is preferably curved circularly, thus providing in effect a somewhatzfiaring mouth or entrance 9, the one wall l() thereof being substantially continuously curved, while the other wall 11.l

thereof terminates in the sliglitlyextended slot.

projection 12 as above'described., This construction facilitates the entrance laterally of a suture into the slot. The slot is formed at towards the end of the shank, the portion y,

13 of the slot being bounded by curved walls 14, 15, and being of decreasingrwidth thereby serving to smoothly and easily guide the suture into the narrowing portion of the Instead of the portion 13 of theslot extendin parallel with the direction of length of the yneedle shank it is preferably slightly curved in the direction of its length as well as being of decreasing width. In practice I also prefer to form a depression 16 in the side surface of the needle shank extending generally lengthwise of the needle into which one side of the slot opens. This depression or groove on the shank of the needle facilitates the use of the needle when the suture is once threaded into the eye and also aids in gripping and retaining the threaded suture.

In practice the suture is applied to the needle by passing the same laterally through the mouth 9 of the slot the curved walls of the slot serving to guide the suture smoothly and easily towards the end of the shank in one continuous movement in one. direction,- and portion 13 of the slot until it becomes wedged in said narrowing portion of the slot. This serves not only to cause thesuture to become sufiiciently gripped in the needle eye but any pull exerted on the suture tending to unthread the same from the eye will cause the suture to gri more firmly in the narrowing portion 13 o the slot.

In the construction above set forth the the needle eye without special care or attention and whatever the size of the suture may be, without eye strain, and the suture vremains' firmly and efficiently attached to the needle without danger of inadvertent unthreading, and hence avoiding the delay of the surgeon in effecting a suturing operation as well as avoiding the danger of the needle becoming lost or remaining in the wound7 and also avoiding the danger of the suture being inadvertently pulled through the eye of the needle.

While I have shown and described a speciiic structure embodying the principles of my invention, I wish it to be understood that variations from the details shown and described might readily occur to persons Askilled in the art and still fall within the 31,44@ ,eee

' a shank formed with e slot therein, said slot extending lsz-iensveizseiy part Way across the shank 'from the oui/ei' edge thereof endl thence in the direction of length of ehe shank, the fece of the shank having a longitudinelly extending groove or depression 10 formed therein in the direction of the length of the slot.

Xn testimony whereof have hereunto set my hand on this 29th day of June, A. D.,

WILLAM JAY SNYDER. 

